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Sailor denies kicking asylum seeker in the head

ELEANOR HALL: A coronial inquest in Darwin has heard evidence from the sailor who was accused of kicking an asylum seeker in the head during the rescue of Defence personnel from the waters of Ashmore Reef.

Five Afghan men died when their boat exploded off the coast of Western Australia last April.

Today the inquest heard from Able Seaman Adrian Medbury.

Our reporter Sara Everingham is at the inquest and joins us now.

So Sara what did this member of the Navy have to say about the accusations made against him?

SARA EVERINGHAM: Well Adrian Medbury spoke about the rescue, of picking up the Australian Defence Force members in the water.

Now he was, we've heard evidence earlier this week from Corporal Sharon Jager. Now he was trying to rescue her. She said that she was struggling to get onto the boat and she saw that there was two possible asylum seekers near her and she saw Adrian Medbury kick the two asylum seekers in the head to try and rescue her.

Now this morning Adrian Medbury has denied doing that. He said that he did, he lifted his leg in a kicking motion towards, he said there was one person holding on to Corporal Jager. But he doesn't remember connecting with that person.

He said that he in fact connected with the side of the rescue boat. And he said that he did this, he had to get this person off Corporal Jager because they were having so much difficulty getting her out of the water.

ELEANOR HALL: What did he say about the difficulty of rescuing his fellow crew members then?

SARA EVERINGHAM: He said that what they did was it's the Defence Force policy to rescue Defence personnel first. And he said that he did that.

And one of the reasons, he was asked if it was important to do that and he said, "For me it was." He said he had no idea why a high threat had been called to HMAS Childers. He said, "From my perspective my teammates were on the boat. It had been attacked." And that's why he went about rescuing the Defence Force members first and then they went on to rescue the asylum seekers.